Customer Reviews

The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter (1830) (Dover Architecture)

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I think this is a book of rather limited appeal. It deals exclusively with classical Greek architecture, and starts with ground zero. It reads like a calculus text book. ("Consider a parallelogram such that AB is 1/2 the distance from point D (shown) and CD is...etc. etc.) If you want to know how to, with dividers and string and a pencil, exactly reproduce all the Greek orders, how to design all the formal moldings, etc., then this is your book. I cannot imagine it to be of any use to anyone "restoring an old house". It will not give you any useful insight into colonial architecture or building practices. It will not help you make your 1760 Cape look more authentic. It's about absolutely correct, formal Greek architecture, or the very very best Greek Revival architecture. If you have a Greek Revival masterpiece, and want to know the theory behind all the mouldings and cornice an columns, and why the entablature looks the way it does, etc. etc., then this is your book.

The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter (1830) Very useful research text and a great companion to Asher Benjamin's The American Builder's Companion. If you restore old buildings, these books must be in your library.